Does anyone know where to focus the J-Tech Laser when Etching Cast Acrylic? I have tried numerous times, but seems to engrave from the bottom up. Any Help would be appreciated.
I’ve done that, No Go! I’ll just have to mess around.
About 2" works best for me. After moving my laser around I did notice that I had issues with the spot. I adjusted the brass ring to focus it to the fine point it should be and had no follow on issues. You may want to try the laser focus on the laser itself. You can search ‘focus’ in this forum and find several notes and links to details on how to do it. I believe jtech’s site also provides some details on it.
Thank You.
Solid State Lasers do not cut acrylic well. It does depend on the color of the material. SSL will not cut clear acrylic and will actually burn whatever is behind it. That is why the proper eye and laser protection is a must! Not just any material will do.
Is it clear Acrylic? I was planning on cutting clear but Jay told me the wave length of the JTech laser won’t work with clear you need a colored acrylic. I have yet to get it mounted to test anything out tho but his rule of thumb was if you can see through it the laser won’t cut it as the beam will go right through.
Thanks Everyone!!
How about etching through the paper cover?
Yeah that is what I plan to do. Here is the full response from Jay…
Cutting clear acrylic is probably not possible, but you can engrave it using a few tricks. Most of the acrylic comes with paper on the top. Don’t take the paper off and instead engrave with the laser on it. Once you take the paper off, then the areas with the laser will be burnt into the acrylic. If it does not have the paper on it we use masking tape and it will work as well. You can also use paint or a sharpie marker and it will transfer the heat as well.
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